How long does it take to get to an "acceptable" level of piano

[muzammil]

I know it all depends on how motivated the student is and how much he practices,the teacher etc but on average how long did it take you to get to a good level where you could enjoy your music and other people liked it as well? From what I've read online it takes about 2 years?

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Well you can enjoy your music starting from day one.  Or you could never enjoy your music even after playing 40+ years.

For me it was since day 1.

And for other people enjoying your music?

Same thing.  There are professional pianists out there where some people absolutely hate all their music.  And there are people who enjoy other people's music since day 1.



I don't exactly understand what the nature of your question is and what you are actually asking.

[muzammil]

Lol I should have phrased that better, sorry. Don't get me wrong, I have been enjoying piano since day one as well. What I mean was how long does it take to get to the stage where I can perform short/intermediate pieces for my friends or family without making too many mistakes?

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Lol I should have phrased that better, sorry. Don't get me wrong, I have been enjoying piano since day one as well. What I mean was how long does it take to get to the stage where I can perform short/intermediate pieces for my friends or family without making too many mistakes?

Ooooooooooooh!

Well that totally depends on how much and how you practice and what your standard and everyone else's standard is.

[muzammil]

Thank you

[ranniks]

I know it all depends on how motivated the student is and how much he practices,the teacher etc but on average how long did it take you to get to a good level where you could enjoy your music and other people liked it as well? From what I've read online it takes about 2 years?

Depends on how much time you put in and your natural aptitude (you develop this the more you play) with the piano. For me - and this is my own version of acceptable and what my teacher says - it took my about 6-8 months to play upper beginner/intermediate piece(s). But I had to repeat them probably a 100 times or even more to get them right. And that's only the classical pieces that I work on. You don't need to do scales, but I highly recommend doing them.

I play about an hour each day and sometimes a bit more.

Weren't you the one who liked to play zelda pieces? If so; learn classical music. Afterwards, the pieces you thought were, 'omg so hard' will be easy for you to play/easier to learn.

Í'm a bit saddened because I thought anime pieces were very hard, but they aren't when compared to a few new pieces that I'm working on right now.

[iancollett6]

 So much is said about the level of a pianist after x amount of time depends on so many factors. This is very true.
 But as the OP is just starting, they are looking for a little light at the end of the tunnel. One of the factors that determines how well someone will advance is devotion. Now Im thinking the fact the OP is on a forum and asking questions shows a bit of devotion in itself.
 I think we could give the OP a bit of encouragement and say " sure, after 2 years of reasonable practice, you should be at a level that doesnt sound too bad to a casual listener."
 And i think this isnt an unfair statement to make.
     Good Luck muzammil.

[gyzzzmo]

So much is said about the level of a pianist after x amount of time depends on so many factors. This is very true.
 But as the OP is just starting, they are looking for a little light at the end of the tunnel. One of the factors that determines how well someone will advance is devotion. Now Im thinking the fact the OP is on a forum and asking questions shows a bit of devotion in itself.
 I think we could give the OP a bit of encouragement and say " sure, after 2 years of reasonable practice, you should be at a level that doesnt sound too bad to a casual listener."
 And i think this isnt an unfair statement to make.
     Good Luck muzammil.

Maybe if the OP wants motivation, he should look backwards instead of 'a little light at the end of the tunnel'. Realising how much progress somebody already has made can also be a good stimulation for keeping up the good job. Also, pianists with a proper attitude keep on changing their own expectations. So playing an intermediate piece 'without making too many mistakes' might be satisfying now, but not over 2 years

[outin]

Of course it's an impossible question to answer, we all have own learning curve and also our own standard. But I would say that after 2 years I quite often feel reasonably satisfied about the way my playing sounds and feels. What was a rare occasion before, now seems to be quite frequent. Meaning that the days when I sound really bad and feel disconnected with my body have become less while the days when I don't have become more . And for me it took just about that two years of both teaching and self-work to get here.

For me it will take a lot longer to learn a few nice pieces to play. But if you are blessed with either good reading or good memory, that will be faster.

[the_fervid_pig]

It depends how much time you put in and the kind of practice you do. An hour a day where you spend half the time looking out of the window probably won't get you far in 2 years, but good planned practice you'll see results sooner rather than later. I managed to learn a few intermediate  pieces in about 3 months from never having played before, but I knew if I didn't I'd get frustrated and end up pushing the damn thing off the roof, it was a six hour a night obsession . You need to be learning something (reasonable, forget the Rach 3 for now) you really want to be able to play, not scales or exercises all the time or you'll lose interest. Practising your sight reading will help keep up your interest as you'll be able to play through new music easier and will find learning quicker. Finding the right teacher for you will help too.

[muzammil]

Wow so many replies  Thanks. And school is off for three months so I use all of my free time on piano, was practicing for many hours yesterday. I'm trying to learn as much as I can in summer because during school I'm lucky to even get an hour to play piano.

[outin]

It's good to have a lot of time to practice, but then you should divide your time with different things and have proper breaks. If you are not working on very long pieces yet, you don't really need so much time on them at one pactice session. Working too long on one thing is not very productive (the brain gets tired). When you aren't getting better and concentration starts failing, it's little use to continue drilling. Just do it again the next day and often you see improvement right away. That's because much of deeper learning happens after practicing, not during. It doesn't often go like more hours spent on the piano=faster learning.

This is something that I need to tell myself all the time, because I have the tendency to get too absorbed on something difficult and I just cannot stop even if I am not working efficiently anymore.